Why Environmentalists should love Suburbans instead of hate them

[Longhorn85]

My wife's suburban holds at least 35 gallons of gas! She sent me to work today with the needle on "E" so I could fill it up and bring it back to her full.

I've been driving around all morning afraid I would run out, but it still probably has 5 gallons in it.

With that big of a tank you fill up less often, therefore less time pumping and releasing all of those toxic fumes.

Plus it carries more passengers for carpooling and gets decent gas mileage.

So why all the fuss over large SUVs you liberals?

 

[GinNJuice]

If it doesn't get 30 miles/gal +

The liberals won't like it

 

[Doktor Bollix]

Fuck the environment. What have trees ever done for us? I'll bet they're liberals. We should nuke the rainforests and melt the polar ice caps deliberately just to piss the liberals off. All our conceptions about cars have been polluted by liberals. They tell us that Suburbans are "big" . Fuck that. I want 5 times the size of a suburban. If it wasnt for the damn liberals and their bleeding heart friends in the unions who insist on shaking down the consumer so their members can live like rock stars on their lavish $16 dollars an hour I could afford it to. And then it would be able to see over that damn liberal smog. If it wasn't for the damn liberals cars wouldn't even burn gasoline. No sir, they would burn liberals. And anyone who's not an American just like me. In fact it's an outrage that my suburban does an economical 15 miles per gallon, if the fucking thing wasn't so darn small and dainty it could have a bigger tank and that saves time. If it wasn't for the damn liberals I could define myself as a consumer in really vulgar ways instead of tasteful and understated, dare I say classy, ways like driving a Suburban. Class is for liberals, phony egalitarian closet elitists that they are. In fact only a damn liberal would drive a suburban after all.

Liberals and guys who need their masculinity validated by a machine. Hypocritical liberals are always looking for a big car as a penis substitute. After all only a damn liberal would think that a pansy ass women's car like a suburban is actually a truck. Damn liberals.

 

[john937]

Plus it carries more passengers for carpooling and gets decent gas mileage.

So why all the fuss over large SUVs you liberals?

Come on. Get real. Do you actually carpool?

 

[Longhorn85]

In fact I'm not sure that only a damn liberal would drive a suburban after all.

Only a hypocritcal one. The Suburban is the American family car. Unlike the mini-van, it allows the father to keep his masculinity(after all, it is a truck with a V8).

 

[Lao Tzu]

I think people are too oversensitive. If they spent as much time trying to perfect hybrid technology as they do worrying about & attempting to banish SUVs that problem would be solved. A hybrid SUV gets 30 mpg.

 

[TheProject]

My truck has a huge gas tank, probably around the same size as the Suburban, and a tank of gas lasts me a week, same as it did in my Impala.

Large tanks are great, but if you're mileage suffers, it's a wash because you're still filling up just as often.

 

[HappyScrappy]

a larger gas tank is a catch 22. you need the fuel to move, but the more fuel you carry, the heavier you are - meaning you have to expend more energy (fuel) in order to move.
on the good side, the more of it you use, the lighter you get.

this is a large issue in the things NASA tries to work with - or at least was at one time - haven't read as much about it as of late.

 

[Lao Tzu]

this is a large issue in the things NASA tries to work with - or at least was at one time - haven't read as much about it as of late.

They are looking into plasma engines now. Much lighter

 

[GinNJuice]

What if you had a really big SUV that held a lot of people.

Then you could let people ride with you and charge them a small fee for this ride.

To hold that many people, your SUV would have to be a lot bigger though, but it could have a really big tank.

You could make it run on Diesel too.

Then, to avoid having to pay for new rubber tires all the time, you could just put big metal wheels on it.

But, with the metal wheels, you would probably have to drive it on long metal "I" beams, to-and-from the city.

..... you could call it a train..... yeah!

 

[Longhorn85]

you need the fuel to move, but the more fuel you carry, the heavier you are - meaning you have to expend more energy (fuel) in order to move.

But a powerful V-8 engine vs a 4 banger makes moving more efficient, esp when hauling personnel and equipment over long distances.

 

[dballer]

Only a hypocritcal one. The Suburban is the American family car. Unlike the mini-van, it allows the father to keep his masculinity(after all, it is a truck with a V8).

AMEN!!!!

 

[HappyScrappy]

the enviromentalists are gonna complain about everything - but to some degree they have a point.
there is a huge industry in oil, and the technology for gas powered engines has come a long way so that they are pretty damn efficient, but they pollute, and use a non-renewable resource... or at least not renewable in a few lifetimes.

there is clear evidence saying that it would be in our best interests to switch, at least in terms of the enviroment.

but the interest that will drive it in the end is economic interest. people at this point aren't willing to pay more for a hydrogen cell or a hybrid car.
they also aren't willing to give up power/acceleration (although many of the one with electric motors directly to the wheel have pretty cool accelaration).
if the car companies can't make money, then they aren't going to do it.

so it is a big loop - the people won't buy the cars unless they are cheap and are either as good performance wise, or better.
the car makers refuse to make these unless they can make money off of them - and selling a relative few every year won't do that (not to mention connectionst the oil industry not being happy).
so the car makers won't make them, meaning there is no way for the public to buy them.

it will need to be forced to the point where either car makers have to make them and entirely replace the existing supply of cars, forcing the consumer to get the new version.
or it will come to running out of the fuel so that the prices get so high that anything else cheaper wins (even if it is less cheap than gas today).

there is so much money to be made by waiting that I doubt we will see any big moves for some time unless there are laws that step in prior.

that said - all of the large auto companies aren't retarded - they are working on, and in some cases already making different engines that work with different fuels - when the time comes to change - the companies that already have something to offer and have an efficient way to produce it will make more money than its competitors... which again is what is driving it all in the first place.

I just want something fast and safe.

 

[HappyScrappy]

But a powerful V-8 engine vs a 4 banger makes moving more efficient, esp when hauling personnel and equipment over long distances.

it is hard to say. they are both going to have to expend similar amounts of energy in the end.

there is work that is being done, which means there needs to be the energy - so it has to come from somewhere.

also - when you say efficient in this - there are different ways to look at it. there is efficiency in terms of how much fuel it uses - there is efficiency as to how much energy from the fuel that it uses that it actually retains - etc etc.

the large desiel engines are great at getting higher mileage, but due to their design, they pollute more.

in the end, the shortest answer is that a combustion engine is going to pollute - so to someone that is against it - whether or not one pollutes more than another, they aren't going to care - they want one that doesn't do it at all.

that is why they like the hydrogen cells - their conversion process results in water.

 

[dballer]

I love you man.. but not in the way you think....

 

[Longhorn85]

the large desiel engines are great at getting higher mileage, but due to their design, they pollute more.

Not talking 'bout diesel. My 'Burb burns the same clean unleaded fuel that Al-Gore's Yugo does.

 

[HappyScrappy]

remember in the days of leaded? my dad's big old Impala was a leaded machine. then they cancelled that at the pumps and he had to ween (wean?) it off with some additive.

and sorry ttlpkg - I wasn't trying to say it was diesel, and I'm not trying to say you are wrong - I just am stating related facts to hopefully add something.

on a side note, my head hurts - I had two fillings touched up today and one was "bad" as the dentist said.

 

[HumorMe]

My Suburban has a 42 gallon tank. I usually watch a slew of motorists fill up and leave while I am still pumping. Funny shit until gas gets to be $2.00 a gallon. Usually I will drive around on E until I no longer feel safe then I fill up. The most I have ever put into it 41.6 gallons.....that was close. Damn thing only gets about 12 to 13 around town. Great on trips though!

 

[HappyScrappy]

my gf just got a used honda civic and the thing gets crazy mileage.
my car doesn't get that great mileage - especially not like that little civic.
with the turbo it gets much better gas mileage once the turbo has spun up and is helping - but around the city that doesn't happen too often - or the turbo gets spun up, and then I have to decellerate again.
so around town I get like 18-21, and on the highway, depending on how I'm driving and how fast and such, I can get close to 40mpg.

 

[cockdezl]

I love large vehicles and do not, by any means, fall into the catagory of environmentalist, but I would definately buy a large vehicle that got greater fuel mileage than present day SUV's. I am not stupid to think that buying more gas is somehow cool, it costs me money.

I think that the market is working towards the hybrid vehicles, and hopefully they will be able to create one that matches the power than can be produced with a combustion/compression engine. I would buy one, since it would benefit in the long run on fuel costs.

 

[Longhorn85]

- I just am stating related facts to hopefully add something.

on a side note, my head hurts - I had two fillings touched up today and one was "bad" as the dentist said.

You are making good points.

My teeth ache just hearing about your experience with the dentist!

 

[VicTusDeuS]

Up until the last part i was going to say tart kart

What if you had a really big SUV that held a lot of people.

Then you could let people ride with you and charge them a small fee for this ride.

To hold that many people, your SUV would have to be a lot bigger though, but it could have a really big tank.

You could make it run on Diesel too.

Then, to avoid having to pay for new rubber tires all the time, you could just put big metal wheels on it.

But, with the metal wheels, you would probably have to drive it on long metal "I" beams, to-and-from the city.

..... you could call it a train..... yeah!

 

[Sushi X]

i don't have a problem with SUV's, wish i had one, if you consider an avalanche an SUV.

my camero only gets about 20-22 miles a gallon, closer to 28 if i go on a trip via the interstate.

being a moderate(with some slight liberal views) i can understand both sides of the picture. and on a side note, i hate yugos, lol.